Project Car Ideas - Build It!

So the economy sucks and you're trying to choose between living at home or in the back of your Chevelle. So what? We have found that the solution to any problem is to wrench on your project car or street machine. Wouldn't your new home look better with some curtains or maybe a blown 572? To get you motivated, we've collected a group of project cars, including late model, early stuff, and even a couple of Mopars from around the country strictly for your entertainment. So get out there and work a piece of metal with a hammer and torch. Trust us, you'll feel much better.

Project Car Ideas: Ethos
Even though this Mustang has style elements from the late '60s Japanese Skyline GTR, it has nothing to do with the import market you see today. Steve Strope at Pure Vision in Simi Valley, California, hopes to create a car that is a very distant cousin. "The guys who will like this car will like a properly prepared Shelby track car as well," Steve says. The fender-mounted mirrors, bolt-on fender flairs, and lightened, vintage, road race wheels are throwbacks to American and Japanese street and open track racing. It will be low and fast, using an engine setback and ultragigabuck suspension pieces instead of being loaded with big stereos and hollow NOS bottles. Look for it to be stripped and lightweight, almost a race car, yet able to work well on the street. Inside, the rear seat will be removed for a small rollbar hoop with reworked buckets and a '60s vibe-maybe in vinyl or leather. The rest of the car will be all function with minimal fanfare and maximum fun.

Project Car Ideas: The Monster Charger
Car owner Chris Perna designs computerized monsters for Epic Games, so builder Muscle Car Restorations (MCR) focused more on interior gadgets and electronics to make him feel at home. The center console will be handmade and coated with rich, creamy leather and will feature black-anodized brushed aluminum and black chrome. In the center of the dash a DVD screen will take care of navigation and the audiovisual. That's all nice, but what is important is the 572-inch Hemi with twin Garrett turbos and a shot of nitrous. To keep the family around, there will be a 'cage and four interior buckets along with giant tires and wheels to keep the car on the road. It might even wheelie like the car in The Fast and the Furious, or not.

Project Car Ideas:The Medical-Grade Valiant
The other current MCR build is going to be a fun one to watch. The '62 Dodge Valiant's owner is a physician, so many of the accessory parts will be made from medical-grade materials. Look for chromium alloy, stainless steel, and some other elements that will make this car interesting. It's going to be a driver, so the emphasis will be on electronically controlled drivetrain parts and comforts such as A/C.

'10 Mustang By Lethal Performance
Our buddy Dustin Whipple at Whipple Super-chargers tipped us off to this psycho build at Lethal Performance of Wellington, Florida. Lethal's President, Jared Rosen, described his goal of building a 9-second street car that still retains creature comforts such as air conditioning and satellite radio. He and his crew started with a new, off-the-showroom-floor '10 GT500 Mustang, taking delivery in mid-August. They made a couple of dyno pulls and dragstrip passes to establish a baseline, and the car performed like a champ in stock form-hustling down the strip in 12.47 seconds at 116.37 mph. They eventually whittled that down to an 11.76-second, 117.63-mph pass on drag radials with a mild ECM reflash.

Since then, they tore into the car with abandon, building a wicked engine out of a Ford Racing Boss block, forged internals, custom-ported heads and cams, and Whipple's new 3.4L Crusher supercharger. They've also strengthened the drivetrain and chassis with a McLeod twin-disc clutch, a 3 1/2-inch aluminum driveshaft, a BMR K-member and adjustable control arms, Steeda rear suspension, and coilover shocks.

Jared expects to make 900 hp at the wheels, run 9s at the track, and cruise home in the humid Florida air with the A/C cranked.

New Camaros
Everything has already been written about the new '10 Camaro-except how to make one go faster. We spent a day at Lingenfelter Performance Engineering (LPE) to check out a parking lot littered with '10 Camaros, all there for superchargers. The Camaro trick of the week is a bolt-on Magnuson TVS2300 supercharger, the same blower the factory is using on the LS9-powered ZR1 Corvette. But in true LPE fashion, the company doesn't just offer a simple blower install. There are actually four stages of the install, with the killer deal being a ridiculous LS7 engine option with the blower. LPE takes a factory LS7, adds a lower-compression forged piston, bolts on the blower, adds a cam and some head mods, and sits back and watches it all make 750 flywheel horsepower. We also got a sneak peek at the drawings for a trick set of body panels that will convert a new Camaro to LPE's vision of a Super Duty Pontiac Trans Am plus a whole lot more.

Superchargers!
LPE tweaks the blower package a little differently than the other guys. Using a TVS2300, LPE specs its own software package and also moves the intercooler fill tank to the driver side of the engine compartment to leave room for a slick set of optional aluminum LPE engine covers. The first upgrade package is rated at 570 flywheel horsepower and 570 lb-ft. Stage II bumps the power to 650 hp and 630 lb-ft using CNC-ported LS3 heads, Mahle forged pistons, Oliver rods, and a ported LS3 throttle body. The big-dog option is the 750hp version pulling 685 lb-ft that uses a complete LS7 427ci long-block and rotating assembly complete with the titanium rods, forged crank, and LS7 heads. JE forged pistons reduce the compression so it will run on pump gas. LPE recommends a dual-disc clutch assembly with this much power and that you buy stock in a tire company since you will shred everything that's round and black in back.

'10 Super Duty 455
LPE has devised a 455ci surprise for Pontiac true believers. This illustration is exactly what you think it is. With a trick Shaker hood, some fender bulges, and a new fascia, LPE has transformed the Camaro into what Pontiac might have pulled off if GM were run by gearheads. And the 455 reference is much more than a decal, with a true 455ci Gen IV motor sitting between the fenders, just to complete the Pontiac vibe. The car is still a work in progress as we write this, but if LPE can promise 750 hp from a 427, imagine what it can do with a 455.

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V-6 Blower Camaro
If a heavy insurance premium is preventing you from buying a new Camaro SS, don't give up just yet. LPE is developing a bolt-on centrifugal supercharger, and we drove its maiden test ride. LPE is aiming for 450 hp for this direct-injected package.

Drivetrain Strain
While too much horsepower is exciting, keep in mind that the new Camaro also rolls on an IRS. While that makes churning corners more exciting, word is that all that extra torque puts the IRS in jeopardy. First of all, tall 20-inch tires and wheels are heavy, which puts more load on those IRS halfshafts. But the biggest problem is axle tramp. LPE is working on a cure that includes stiffer mount bushings for the cradle and spherical rod ends to minimize unwanted movement. Plus, LPE now offers heavier axleshafts that will no doubt help to minimize breakage. The company's also working on a larger-diameter ring gear set that will grow the stock 8.58-inch diameter up to something around 9.5 inches.

10-Flat ZR1 Corvette
While not Camaro news, we couldn't resist this story. Everyone should know by now about the '09 ZR1 supercharged Corvette. It's powered by a 6.2L, all-aluminum, 9:1-compression engine with an Eaton TVS2300 supercharger that from the factory makes 638 hp at 6,500 rpm. A production ZR1 will run 11.30s at 131 mph, but the guys at LPE decided they could do better. We got a look at the prototype of a new inlet casting that fits between the throttle body and the blower. LPE's new casting offers a much more direct shot to the supercharger, which does wonderful things for horsepower. LPE's chassis dyno testing measured 739 rwhp and 720 rear-wheel torque with the addition of this part, a smaller blower pulley, a larger crank pulley, software tuning, a larger intercooler, a larger intercooler reservoir, and race gas. With these changes plus 345/45R18 Mickey Thompson ET Street radials on CCW wheels, the Vette ran a tire-spinning 10.03 at 141.50 mph at Muncie Dragway on an 80-degree day. In three runs, the car never ran slower than 10.16. What's impressive is this was with an otherwise stock suspension. LPE engineer Jason Haines says, "We never even pulled the valve covers." If you want to see the video, go to Lingenfelter.com.

22/28This is an LPE photo of the blue ZR1 Corvette at Muncie. Note the daylight under the left front tire.

Low-Buck Diesel Wagon
You might remember these guys from a feature we ran in the Dec. '08 issue. Chad Maskrey and Blake Hughes built a primer '67 Chevy II with a couple of hair dryers and a 6.0L swap to cruise on the Hot Rod Power Tour. We caught up to them recently at the NMCA LSX shootout in Memphis and watched them click off a couple of low-10-second e.t.'s with the very same car. "You've seen this pile before," Chad said. He'd spotted us staring at the engine in lanes. "Check out what we're working on." Chad waved his iPhone with a miniature shop photo featuring a Nova Wagon with a big engine parked at Blake's shop, 417 Motorsports in Springfield, Missouri. The plan is to build a wagon, throw in a Duramax turbodiesel engine and a huge gas tank so Chad and all his friends can pile into it, go on the '10 Tour, and share costs. Camping in it isn't out of the question, either. The car was spotted online and dragged from rust-free California to the shop. The outside will remain bone stock, and much of the original Aztec Bronze color will be retained. The stock Duramax manifolds will be flipped and welded for twin turbos, and the drivetrain will be a 4L60E transmission with a Lincoln Versailles rearend.